Malloy-Foley Debate Turns Nasty: Sharp Jabs On Integrity Questions

Malloy and Foley bring out the long knives as debate's last 10 minutes get heated.

STORRS — A gubernatorial debate largely dominated by economic issues turned negative in the final 10 minutes Thursday night, with jabs sharp enough to lead Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Foley to call on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for a truce that would ban character attacks from the campaign.

Early in the debate, in response to a question about the state workforce, Foley mentioned a corruption investigation during Malloy's tenure as mayor of Stamford. The governor waited nearly an hour to respond, when in his final opportunity for rebuttal he referred to Foley's earlier attacks on him and then went on the offensive: He hammered Foley over two car crash arrests and a fine that Foley had to pay the State Elections Enforcement Commission this year.

"Someone in a glass house shouldn't be throwing stones," Malloy said. "I'm not the person who was fined by the elections commission this year $16,000. I'm not the person who failed to disclose to the FBI that he'd been arrested. I'm not the person who didn't tell the full truth about the incidents involving a woman in a car that you struck five different times at rates of speed going 50 miles an hour."

Foley contends that the fine he paid to the elections commission this year for a poll conducted by a policy institute he founded was a settlement, not a fine. In the car crash in 1981, he was arrested and spent the night in a police cell, but a charge of first-degree assault was later dropped. The second incident involved allegations by Foley's former wife that Foley had driven her and the couple's young son "off the road in our car ... by using his car."

After the rapid-fire string of attacks, Malloy said: "You've … questioned my integrity, Tom. I would not have done that to you, nor would I have raised these subjects but for the fact that you've gone a little over the top."

Someone in a glass house shouldn't be throwing stones. I'm not the person who was fined by the elections commission this year $16,000.— Gov. Dannel Malloy

Foley accused Malloy of being untruthful, and said after the debate that he was not going 50 mph — "the police report was wrong." He mentioned that the charges were dismissed, and questioned why Malloy was discussing things that happened 30 years ago.

Malloy also responded to the corruption investigation that Foley had brought up, saying that he was cleared — and that the prosecutor had thanked him for his frankness.

Foley shot back: "You're a prosecutor … you know that people don't get investigated if there isn't a lot of reason or suspicion. … Just because people aren't charged with things, doesn't mean it didn't actually happen … they just couldn't get the proof or there wasn't enough evidence."

After 10 minutes of back and forth, Foley said: "Listen. We can either call a truce on this stuff, which I think would serve the Connecticut citizens well, or we can keep it going."

Malloy responded by questioning the reason for a $2.8 million investment loss that Foley incurred in 2011, as revealed by partial federal tax returns he released last week. Foley has declined to elaborate on the S-Corporation loss.

After the debate, sponsored by the Courant and Fox CT, Foley, a former U.S. ambassador, agreed not to bring up the corruption probe if Malloy didn't bring up aspects of his past.

During the more substantive 45 minutes of the debate, Foley attacked Malloy for his record, while Malloy defended his actions during his first term and said he inherited the problems that Foley described from previous Republican administrations.

Foley repeatedly rapped Malloy for increasing taxes in 2011 — even in response to a question about transportation.

Malloy said that "every Republican who runs against every Democrat says they will raise your taxes." He pledged not to raise taxes in his next term and said that in the past three years his administration has "already backed things out of the package in 2011."

Foley challenged that notion, suggesting that even if Malloy did roll back some provisions, it wasn't enough to make a meaningful impact. "I don't think there are many people in Connecticut that believe you reduced taxes," he said.

The governor's pledge not to raise taxes also prompted Foley to retort: "There's no reason, sir, why anyone should believe what you're saying here tonight, particularly with raising taxes. You're gonna do it again if you get elected governor in November."

Malloy said that Connecticut, "unlike Republican-led states … did not shift our burden to local taxpayers."

Asked about gun control, Malloy defended the post-Newtown gun reforms and said that Foley would sign a repeal. Foley, who has been endorsed by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, a gun rights group, initially said that "I won't" repeal the law. He later said that he would sign a repeal if the legislature passed it.

Foley criticized Malloy for the statewide implementation of Common Core, and Malloy responded that it was "instituted by a Republican governor." He blasted Foley's education plan, which would strip funding from low-performing schools, and defended his own record, "particularly in our urban environments."

Foley laughed in response. "You're not giving a decent education to 100,000 children in Connecticut," he said. "It's shameful, it's absolutely shameful."

He added: "You're giving money to schools that are underperforming … not solving the problem."

But the policy debate was largely overshadowed by the character attacks that concluded it.

After the debate, in the media "spin room," Malloy said, "He started it."